


The Moon is Bright. It's Better Than This Cold Bridge.

by SpectacledRenegade



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Implied Child Abuse, Mention of Death, Numbness, Suicidal Thoughts, Swearing, brief religious commentary, hopelessness, mention of anxiety, mention of parent in jail, suicidal, suicidal ideations, they live, this story gets sad before it gets happy, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 07:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20254816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpectacledRenegade/pseuds/SpectacledRenegade
Summary: Tonight is going to be his last night on Earth.





	The Moon is Bright. It's Better Than This Cold Bridge.

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ THE TAGS AND HEED THE TRIGGER WARNINGS! THIS IS A VENT FIC. Keep yourself safe.

Part of him was annoyed someone else got there before him. The other part of him intrigued.

“You can’t talk me down,” The stranger, whom was sitting on the railing of the bridge, said to him.

“I’m not planning to,” He replied, climbing on the railing and sitting next to the mysterious man. “I was actually planning on jumping too.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded, “Maybe we can jump together, Thelma and Louise type shit.”

The stranger breathed out a laugh, and it was quite humorless. “At least let me get to know you first.”

Stretching his arms and popping his back, he shrugged and said, “Why not? It’s our last night on this damned planet. Might as well make it worthwhile." He exhaled. "Let’s start off easy: Why are _you _killing yourself?”

The stranger snorted. “I think you need to rethink your definition of easy,” He sighed, “Nevertheless, if you must know, I lost my job today. It is, or rather was, all I had. I know it was my fault, too.”

He prodded the stranger to keep going.

“I was a college professor. I lost my family as a young adult and I haven’t any friends. My students were the best part of my days.”

“So? What did you do that got you fired?”

The stranger shook his head. “I’ll continue my story after you start yours.”

He held onto the railing and leaned back a bit, extending his legs out. “My favorite professor got fired today.”

The stranger’s gaze snapped toward him.

“Kidding. My mom died yesterday. She’s been sick for a while, so I knew it was going to happen eventually, but I still wasn’t ready for it.”

“And you have no support system?”

He shook his head. “I’m just like you, buddy. Bitter and alone. Well, my dad’s still kicking, but he’s got a life sentence in a nice, cozy prison cell. It’s not like I’d want him around anyway, he didn’t do any favors for mom and I growing up.”

“I see,” The stranger said. He got quiet for a moment as he turned his head and looked at the full moon staring back at him. “I got fired today for losing my temper with the faculty one too many times. I suppose I was wrong in thinking that it was quite justified.”

“Hm,” He stared up at the moon, too. “Been there before. Got expelled from two schools. They all thought I’d turn out like my dad.” He looked down at the ocean. “Mom never thought so, though. ‘You are who you choose to be’ and all that jazz, that’s what she always told me.”

“Your mother sounds like a beautiful person.”

He froze, and choked on his breath. “Yeah… She was.” He looked over at the stranger, who had the same face he saw in the mirror this morning. Glazed, numb… resigned. There was something liberating about the feeling. Every anxiety in his mind all went away the second he decided he was going to jump off this bridge. For once in his life he just felt… nothing. It was the most peace he has ever felt in his entire life. He closed his eyes and took a moment to just bask in it.

“Do you believe in an afterlife?”

He opened his eyes and looked at the stranger. The stranger was staring back at him, it seemed he was just making conversation for the sake of it because there was no real curiosity anywhere on his face.

“Do you want there to be?”

The stranger hummed and looked back out at the night sky. “I’m not sure… I’ve never believed in religion but sometimes I wonder if perhaps it’s all true. Then what? Will I be damned to hell for not following the book?”

He took that into consideration. “I’m not big on religion either, but if there is a big guy upstairs, I’m sure he’d forgive you if you didn’t do anything really bad.”

The stranger seemed to consider that.

A wind picked up and sent chills down both their spines. It seemed to shift the mood between them. They both looked down at the black water below.

“How long do you think our bodies would be down there before we’re found and marked as a couple of unclaimed John Doe’s?”

The stranger took a minute to think on it. “Well… I’d say it depends on the weather, how strong the waves are, if there are any boats around, and the wildlife. So, who’s to say?”

He remained silent. The stranger spoke up again.

“May I tell you something personal?”

He nodded, eyes remaining on the ocean.

“I do not actually wish to die.”

That caused him to stiffen. His jaw clenched and his hands held tighter onto the cold railing. Something deep and sad, and full of... something, settling in his stomach. “Then why?”

“I see nothing else in my future. Many people die before they want to. I believe now is my time.”

He hated the calm, matter-of-fact way the stranger said that. It pissed him off. He missed the numb he's been feeling. He didn’t know why he was mad. He realized it’s because he felt the exact same way... He let out a shuttering breath.

The stranger tilted his head. “Do you feel the same?”

He clenched his jaw once more to stop the tears from spilling. They were the first warm thing he felt all day. He nodded.

There was something quite sobering about this fact. The two fell into silence, losing themselves in their own thoughts.

-

The seconds ticked into minutes and the minutes to hours, and they just continued to sit there.

It was odd, when the sun came up. It destroyed their small liminal space that they created for themselves.

When the first boat of the day appeared before them, the stranger spoke again.

“Perhaps we were meant to meet each other here tonight?”

“…For what?”

“To find that someone.” The stranger replied.

And all at once the nothing vanished. He imagined he was staring just as intensely into the stranger’s eyes as the stranger was in his.

The stranger turned around and climbed off the railing, and held out a hand. “Would you like to get a coffee with me?”

Though the nothing was gone, the deep, deep, feeling that has been in his stomach lately was gone too. Instead, something warm and new blossomed inside. He, too, climbed off the railing, and accepted the stranger’s hand. “I’d like that.”

So, even though they didn’t know each other, and even though they just met, they walked off the bridge hand in hand.

“I’m Virgil, by the way.”

The stranger continued to stare straight ahead as he smiled. “Logan.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on tumblr at  
spectacled-renegade and spectacled-renegade-writes


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